How employers should treat new hires under the PPACA’s employer shared responsibility rule

Under the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (PPACA), large employers may know that to avoid penalties, they need to offer coverage that is affordable and qualified to full-time staff. But how do you treat a new hire to fold him or her into full-time staff so the employer shared responsibility rule can be applied?

Smart Business spoke with Tobias Kennedy, vice president of Sales and Service at Montage Insurance Solutions, about how to handle new hires, in the final of a three-part series on the employer shared responsibility provision.

When must health coverage be offered to new hires?

Per the PPACA, new hires must be offered coverage within 90 days if you reasonably expect the person to be full time. However, if, at the time of hire, you cannot reasonably predict whether the person will be full or part time, you can submit the employee to a similar set of measurement/stability periods as the full-time ongoing staff. (For more information on ongoing staff measurement/stability periods, see the second article in this series.) The term ‘standard measurement’ was created to distinguish ongoing staff from what you can use for new hires, which is called an initial measurement period.

How does the initial measurement period work?

Like the standard measurement, the initial measurement period must be continuous months of between three and 12 months. Also, you have an administration period and an associated stability period where, as long as the person remains employed, you treat him or her according to the results of the hourly average from the measurement period.

What administration period rules need to be satisfied for new hires?

First, the period is no longer than 90 days — same as for ongoing staff. However, there is a caveat that the 90 days actually starts counting upon date of hire, keeps counting until you start your initial measurement period, where it pauses, and begins counting again for the period from the close of the measurement period through to the start of coverage. This is pertinent if you don’t measure from date of hire, such as beginning to measure the first of the month following date of hire, so some days between hire date and measurement beginning are deducted from the total 90-day allotment.

Also, the administration period when added to the initial measurement period cannot exceed the first of the month following 30 days of an employee’s anniversary. The longest an employee can possibly go from date of hire to coverage effective is 13 months and some change.

How does the stability period operate for new hires?

Like the ongoing staff, if a 12-month measurement period is chosen, then a 12-month stability period must be chosen. So, if an employee were hired on May 15, 2014, the employer would use a 12-month initial measurement period beginning the first of the month following date of hire, June 1, 2014, to May 31, 2015. Because the employee’s anniversary is May 15, 2015, the first of the month following 30 days of that is July 1, and the employer’s only option for administration is the month of June. If the new hire was deemed full time, he or she is offered coverage for a 12-month stability period beginning July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016.

So, in this example, what happens with the employee on June 30, 2016?

The employee’s timeline runs from May 15, 2014, to June 30, 2016, so there is enough time for him or her to have eclipsed whatever time frame the employer uses as the standard measurement period for ongoing staff. If this new hire worked for an employer who measures ongoing employees from Nov. 1 to Oct. 31 every year, what happens to benefits on June 30 would be contingent upon the average hours worked from Nov. 1, 2014, to Oct. 31, 2015.

If the employee were full time during this time frame, the benefits would continue to the end of the year, per a 2016 stability period associated with that standard measurement period. If the employee was not full time in the standard measurement period but was during his or her initial measurement, benefits will continue through to June 30, 2016. And if the employee was not full time in either measurement period, benefits don’t have to be offered through the end of 2016.

It’s important to note that if an employee was not full time during the initial measurement but was full time during the standard measurement, you will need to add him or her to the benefits. So, in the running example, if an employee didn’t qualify based on June 1, 2014, to May 31, 2015, hours worked, but you re-measure according to your ongoing rules and find the person was full time during the Nov. 1, 2014, to Oct. 31, 2015 period, then the 12-month new hire stability period of not having benefits is clipped short. It’s replaced by the guarantee of benefits for the full 2016 plan year with an effective date of coverage of Jan. 1, 2016.

This can be complicated, but you should be fine as long as you work with a good consultant and utilize the tools your payroll vendor provides.

Tobias Kennedy is vice president of Sales and Service at Montage Insurance Solutions. Reach him at (818) 676-0044 or [email protected]

Insights Business Insurance is brought to you by Montage Insurance Solutions

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